Mobile terminals are portable devices, which can provide users with various services such as a voice calling service, a video calling service, an information input/output service, and a data storage service. As the types of services provided by mobile terminals diversify, an increasing number of mobile terminals have been equipped with various complicated functions such as capturing photos or moving pictures, playing music files or moving image files, providing game programs, receiving broadcast programs and providing wireless Internet services and have thus evolved into multimedia players.
Various user interface (UI) environments, in which users are allowed to easily search for and choose desired functions, have been developed. In addition, the demand for various designs for mobile terminals such as a double-sided liquid crystal display (LCD) or a full touch screen has steadily grown due to a growing tendency of considering mobile terminals as personal items that can represent users' personality.
In a limited display device, such as a mobile communication terminal, there is a restriction in allocating sufficient space for a UI device (such as a display device or a keypad) of a mobile terminal without compromising the mobility and the portability of a mobile terminal. In addition, conventional mobile terminals provide operating state information or respond to user commands merely using a limited UI space or simple sound effects.
Therefore, systems and methods are needed to control the operation of mobile terminals using through an efficient and easy-to-use user interface.